Chapter 393: The death which came as a shock.

Hunter got lucky that Etania was well within range to cast her healing glow, and he still had a stash of instant healing pills on hand. The combined effect worked almost immediately, knitting his wounds together and flooding his limbs with renewed strength.

"I am not dying today." He whispered as he swallowed them. ’I am not dying before I get a proper marriage license with my wife." He said in a louder voice.

Maverick heard the words. He opened his mouth and closed it quickly. Truly, he had no response to that.

Tessi took it as a sign to pull back her healing energy.

Zyra was already on her way to Hunter, on the drake’s back. But before she reached, he saw her and shook his head.

[Host, Hunter does not want you running to save him right now. Focus on saving the poor half-life beasts being slaughtered by the ferocious ones.] The system told Zyra. [I have upgraded again during this battle, which is good news. Your command level has gone up. To end this battle quickly, you should control the king beasts.]

"I can do this." Zyra convinced herself as she stood tall on the back of the Drake, her scales glowing with oppressive aura. She inhaled, focused, released her energy like invisible threads and began connecting directly to the minds of every single King Beast in the stadium.

"ALL OF YOU... SURRENDER RIGHT NOW, OR I WILL ERASE YOUR ENTIRE SPECIES FROM EXISTENCE!" her voice echoed inside their brains like the roar of an ancient god.

The command in her voice overrode the instructions that the ferocious beasts had been given. Every single King Beast instantly stopped. They froze in place, looked up at the woman in the sky and recognized her as the sovereign commander.

They threw themselves onto the ground, covering their heads with their paws and trembling in utter submission.

The surviving humans and soul maidens were completely dumbfounded. What was this? Was it a new trick?

Others assumed the person in the air was the one behind the attack.

"What just happened?" a soldier near Bianca whispered. "Did... did someone just pull the plug on the beasts?"

Zyra didn’t give a damn about their reactions. She leaped off the Drake, dropping fifty feet and landing with a loud thud right next to Hunter.

The green scales vanished from her skin, melting away as she stood tall in the middle of the arena.

The crowd went dead silent for a second before a wave of sharp gasps broke out. Faces twisted in utter shock as people finally recognized who was standing in front of them.

"It’s Zyra Scorpion!" someone screamed from the back, almost tripping over a piece of rubble.

"She is alive!" Someone else shouted. "I can’t believe it."

"Wasn’t she kidnapped?"

"Didn’t she fail to awaken her bloodline?"

Zyra ignored the curiosity completely. In her head, a translucent screen popped up with a cheerful ping.

[Host, all your teammates and their half-life beasts are fully accounted for. Zero missing, zero eaten!]

Good, Zyra thought. Without losing a beat, she turned to the giant, terrifying creatures looming over the arena. "All King Beasts left side of the stadium. Stand or sit in one place until I get to you. Move it!"

Spice, Squirrel and the other Emperor beasts growled or made sounds that threatened death to any beast that disobeyed her commands.

The beasts, which had just been tearing through enemy’s moments ago, blinked their huge eyes and shuffled obediently to the left like scolded puppies. Zyra didn’t waste any time; she immediately rolled up her sleeves and started helping the wounded nearby.

Tessi and the other Soul maidens also got to work. They were healing humans and beasts alike. For the moment, all they could do was close external and internal wounds. Any other problems would have to checked in a larger hospital.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling screech pierced the air, halting everyone in their tracks.

"He’s dead! Oh god, he’s dead!"

It was Andrea. She was sitting on the dusty ground, cradling her brother’s lifeless body, sobbing hysterically.

Hunter’s chest tightened. He closed his eyes for a brief second, feeling a heavy weight settle in his gut. Elliot was his brother and he would have loved it if they had mended things and gone back to how they were when they were children. But sadly, his brother’s hatred for him had proven stronger than the past.

Achilles would have a field day with this. Hunter could hear the ’I told you so’s, already.’

He stepped forward to go to Andrea. But he barely managed two steps before he was stopped by a slap.

A loud, stinging slap cracked across his cheek that actually hurt more than he expected.

There was silence as everyone watched. Even the Soul maidens were tempted to pause their healing to watch the drama.

"You bastard!" Sabrina, shrieked. Her eyes were red, practically glowing with pure rage as she glared at him. "He died because of you! If you hadn’t come back here like a curse, Elliot wouldn’t have been distracted! He wouldn’t have been killed by a beast!"

Hunter just stood there, staring at the ground. He didn’t fight back, didn’t argue. He just bowed his head like an absolute idiot, swallowing the accusation and clenching his fists.

Zyra, who was midway through bandaging a man’s arm, snapped. Oh, hell no. She wasn’t about to stand by and watch her mother-in-law treat her husband like a punching bag. She had done that to him all his life and left him having emotional trauma.

She marched right over, her boots thudding heavily against the dirt, and planted herself right beside Hunter.

"A beast didn’t kill that fool," Zyra said, her voice cool and completely devoid of warmth. "I did."

Sabrina froze.

Zyra raised her hand in the direction of her spear. It flew to her, and she rested it casually on her shoulder. "I killed Elliot because the trash tried to murder my husband."

Sabrina’s face went pale, then bright red. She pointed a trembling, dramatic finger at Zyra. "You... you murderer! You monster!"

Hunter finally snapped out of his trance, hissing through his teeth, "My wife did what she had to do! Your beloved son tried to kill me mother! I am your son too; doesn’t it matter to you that I would be dead now if Tessi had not healed me quickly?"

"I don’t care what he did!" Sabrina screamed back, completely unhinged. "He was my son! My only child."

Andrea wiped her tears, her hands clenching around her brother’s corpse. "And me and Zayn? I don’t blame you for hating Hunter because it is his fault that Elliot became lame beyond the veil, but what did Zayn and I do?"

"I DO NOT CARE!" Sabrina shouted

"Well, I care," a deep, booming voice cut through the madness.

The Grand Elder stepped forward, crossing his arms. "And frankly, what Zyra did was entirely justified. The boy brought it on himself."

Sabrina gaped at him, clutching her chest as if she’d just been stabbed. She rubbed her smarting cheeks and wailed, "Father! How can you side with outsiders over your own blood!?"

"Outsider?" The Grand Elder snorted softly. "Zyra is more family to me than you are. She is also my grand daughter-in-law and most importantly my dear Zena’s child. And we both know I favored Zena over you, and for the right reasons."